Ecommerce giants Amazon and Play have recently decided to challenge Apple’s dominance in the MP3 market by offering MP3 downloads as part of its service. Amazon launched Amazon MP3 with the intention of reducing Apple’s markets share by undercutting it’s prices whilst maintaining the convenience of the iTunes store. As far as first year’s go, a 5-10% market share isn’t that bad, but Amazon is little more than inconvenience to Apple who still dominate the market share with over 70%.

It appears that any market share gained from Amazon was from other small MP3 download services, meaning iTunes has remained pretty much intact.

So why is iTunes so immovable from it’s perch as king of the MP3 downloads? Sure, nothing beats the convenience of simply pressing ‘buy’ and seeing it in your iTunes library seconds later as if it’s always been there, but you’d think that the more competitive prices of Amazon and Play would have made more of a dent than a scratch. Those with the knowledge will know that it only takes a second to import and Amazon download into iTunes.

I’m sure Amazon will continue as normal however with it’s MP3 download service – there’ really nothing to loose. A market with virtually no operating costs, no delivery charges, unlimited stock and clearly booming in comparison to traditional CD high street sales. It’s a division that all online music sellers should incorporate – but just don’t expect to loosen Apple’s grip on the market!

Adding a search function is the number one standard in designing e-commerce websites. They should all have one as they allow customers to quickly and conveniently locate what they’re looking for. It’s similar to asking an assistant in a supermarket where a particular product is. You may know where the cereals are, but it can be difficult to locate the exact brand amongst the hundereds on offer. The same rule applies to an online shop, browsing through categories can be a long process.

In terms of design, once again Amazon wins out. The bar should be located at the top of the page, above the fold where it can be seen instantly. Use a standard white background for text entry and surrond it in a dark colour to make it stand out. You should also make it as long as possible so that users don’t have their queries cut off. Some search functions suggest words as you’re typing to make the process easier but I think some less experienced users would find this confusing and off-putting.